Voice Search Is Dominating The Search Engines, Are You Ready?

Did you know, 20% of search queries in India are vocal?. Google predicts that by 2020, 50 percent of global searches will be voice dependant. 

Why voice search is dominating the search market rapidly?
Why do you think voice search is picking up so much pace? Let’s be honest, we all desire for quick results and voice search is obviously faster compared to keying in your search query on the keyboard. Voice search also enables users from across the world to search in their desired language. In India, itself we have 14 languages, All the voice device companies are betting on the various Indian languages and the Indian market. Let’s look at some more details about voice search and why businesses should leverage this opportunity before its too late.

The difference between web search and voice search:
There are a few countable differences between the two. Let’s learn more through the table aside.. 

Conversational Feature: In web search, there is no scope of the conversation. You type the query, google throws up some relevant results. If it is inaccurate, you tweak your search keywords and retype them for a new set of results. When people use a voice search app, they’re more likely to phrase the query as a question. E.g. Hey Siri, Can you find me a nearby chemist?. Here a searcher uses a natural tone and a dominating language. Also, the voice device narrates the results to you. Hence, it looks like you are asking a friend sitting right in front of you encouraging conversations.

Language friendly: A keyboard has limited languages encrypted. While you do a voice search, you generally talk in your mother tongue. Google and various other voice devices are working on integrating Indian Languages and also take this as a great market opportunity. 

Time consumption: While you type a search query you have almost pressed the backspace button 10 times and rephrased your search. When you open the voice search app, you just talk your heart, you have less time to verbalize your query. This allows quick search resulting in quicker results too.

The search consists of long keywords: Let’s look at this parameter of comparison with an examples. You want to know the closest pizza joint. A web searcher will type, “Pizza joint in Andheri?” While a voice searcher will press the voice search button and start, “ Hey Google, I want to know the nearest pizza joint from my location”. This boils down to the conclusion that in a voice search query tends to be verbose i.e. longer keywords compared to a web search query.

Result accuracy rate for queries: In a web search query, the first 5 results on the 1st page are likely to attract a lot of valuable traffic. On the contrary, a voice search only responds with one answer to the searchers from the best-optimized webpage. This makes voice search results inaccurate and very narrow. 

Voice devices and some voice search statistics:
We all know about Apples – Siri, Amazons – Alexa, Googles – Google Now, Microsofts – Cortana and Samsungs – Bixby. Let us throw some light on some shocking voice search statistics which will get you thinking. 

• As per 2018 statistics, Google has sold 5.4 Million Google Home models, Amazon had sold 4.1 Million Echo devices.
• Grocery shopping accounts for more than 20% od voice-based orders.
• 55% of teenagers are using the voice search option on a daily basis. 

How the above voice search trends will affect your SEO strategy?
Now that we have figured out that Voice search is an emerging trend in the world of search, there is certainly something that SEO professionals should be keeping their eyes on. Firstly, 80% of the voice searchers are happening through mobile devices and hence mobile-first indexing is non-negotiable. Secondly, As we read above Voice search queries are longer and engaging compared to a typed regular text-based query. The SEO team will have to emphasis nesting keywords in a conversational tone and language, i.e. write as you would speak. Top 3 common keywords in voice search phrases are “how”, what” and “best”. Thirdly, as we know most of the voice searches happen for location searches. E.g. XYZ near me. So SEO experts will have to emphasis on location keywords. E.g. Vodafone store near me as compared to Vodafone store in Malad search query. Your SEO team has got an all-new keyword search to do. Here the SEO expert would need to find more than 20% of voice search queries are triggered by a combination of only 25 keywords

Investing in voice search optimization increases brand awareness, online purchases, and revenues. We at iDigitize believe, if you optimize your site for voice search now, you’ll likely be ahead of the competition and see strong voice search rankings that will allow your brand to gain popularity in the long run.